Sarah Griffiths, 29, tied the knot with Aled Morris on June 26 at The Barns at Delbury Hall, Shropshire, before a honeymoon in Croatia. The spa account manager has opened up about years of fearing that her psoriasis would put off potential partners, leaving her anxious about intimacy and reluctant to discuss the condition.
Cruel Dating Encounter
Sarah recalled a night out when she was 19 or 20: “I went home with someone. Then, as I turned the lights on, I remember he looked at me and said, ‘what the f*** is that?’ I just got my things and left. For a very long time, it made me feel very much less than.”
Sarah has lived with psoriasis since childhood, experiencing itching and dry skin on her scalp and body. Research from Polytar shows that over a third (34%) of women deal with persistent scalp itchiness, 27% have a dry or tight scalp, and 25% face increased flaking.
Emotional Burden
“I’ve got full-body psoriasis, but obviously on the scalp as well. My main issue is thick plaques around my hairline, so flakes in my hair,” she said. Over the years, she tried numerous treatments: “I think I've tried pretty much every available medication in the UK. The reality is, I do feel more confident when it’s treated.”
Sarah said the biggest challenge was the effect on her self-esteem: “I didn't want to talk about it because when I would talk about it, I would just get such a lump in my throat and become so emotional. So it was just avoid, avoid, avoid.”
Dating Anxiety
While dating, she constantly worried about judgment: “You’d just think, 'are they looking at that? Are they looking at me? Does he really fancy me?' If I were feeling very empowered, I’d be like, ‘I’ve got a skin condition, okay?’ And other times, it would just break me.” She often hid it: “My biggest insecurity was that when it got to that stage of them seeing me undressed, they'd be like, 'that's not what I signed up for'. It became this massive, unavoidable beast.”
Supportive Husband
Despite her fears, most people reacted positively, especially Aled. “People would ask about it, but they'd be like, 'that's fine, no problem,' even if I'm there crying. I definitely was very nervous about telling Aled, but he was extremely kind and extremely reassuring.”
Before the wedding, Sarah worried about flare-ups: “On the run up to my wedding day, I've been trying to avoid my known stresses that I can control, for example, drinking, eating fatty and sugary food and trying to keep stress down as much as possible.” She used Polytar as a pre-wedding ritual: “I always use on my first wash. In the bath I can put it on and leave it on for five to seven minutes. Using Polytar encourages me to take things a little bit more slowly, maybe do some breathing.”
Hope for Others
Now in honeymoon bliss, Sarah hopes speaking openly will help others: “I spent years worrying people would reject me because of my psoriasis. What I've learned is that the fear was often much worse than the reality.”
